Nestable dispensing container



July 24, 1962 H. G. HENRICKSON NESTABLE DISPENSING CONTAINER Filed Sept.6, 1957 INVENTOR HENRY G HENFIICKSON ATTORNEY United States PatentOfifice $345,871 Patented July 24, 1962 3,045,871 NESTABLE DHSPENSINGCGNTAINER Henry G. Henrickson, Mount Prospect, IiL, assignor to KaiserAluminum Chemical Corporation, Oakland, Calrfi, a corporation ofDelaware Filed Sept. 6, 1957, Ser. No. 682,384 4 Claims. (Cl. 222-143)This invention relates to containers of a type commonly employed forpackaging and subsequently dispensmg granular type food products such ascondiments and like commodities and to one especially adapted for themerchandising, handling, storage and display of such products. Moreparticularly, it is directed to an improved container for packaging suchproducts, wherein the container is provided with a novel top and whereinnovel means are also employed for superimposing and nesting suchcontainers one upon the other in nonslipping relationship.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide adispensing container having novel means for stacking the same uponanother container having similar characteristics during storage,shipment and display of the same.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel containerhaving a rotatable cap element which is anchorecl to the container topin a unique fashion and wherein several such containers may beinterchangeably stacked upon one another regardless of the positions ofthe rotatable cap elements of either container.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel containerhaving a rotatable cap element wherein the container is adapted to beinterlockingly nested with another container of similar construction.

These and other objects are attained by providing in a nestabledispensing container the combination of an upstanding wall, bottom andtop. The bottom includes a centrally disposed recessed portion and theupstanding wall is provided with an inwardly directed ledge meansadjacent the top thereof. The top edge of the Wall terminates in aninwardly directed flange means. The top of the container includes aperforated lid mounted on the said ledge means and intermediate theledge means and the flange means on the upstanding wall as well as arotatable perforated cap mounted on the lid. Flange means on the lidholds the cap in firm but rotatable engagement with the lid and a fingerengaging raised element is also provided on the cap. The top of thisfinger engaging raised element advantageously protrudes above the topedge of the upstanding wall of the container whereby, when one containeris nested upon another container having similar characteristics, thefinger engaging raised element on the cap of the bottommost containerwill be interlockingly received within the recessed portion of thebottom of the topmost container and the peripheral edge on the bottom ofthe topmost container will rest on the inwardly directed flange means onthe wall of the bottommost container.

Other objects and advantages of the instant invention will become moreapparent by reference to the following detailed description when takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of the container of the instantinvention;

FIGURE 2 is a broken sectional View of the container disclosed in FIGURE1 with another container of similar construction, as shown in dottedlines, being nested thereon; and

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of the container shown in FIGURES 1 and 2.

The container of the instant invention may be of a type which isgenerally used for merchandising and dispensing grated food productssuch as grated cheese, condiments or the like. It may be comprised of acylinder 1 or the like having a continuous upstanding wall 2, a bottom 3and a top 4. The upstanding wall 2 includes an inwardly directed curvedledge 5 adjacent the top of the wall 2. The top free edge of the wall 2terminates in an inwardly directed flange 6.

The bottom 3 which is advantageously integrally formed with wall 2includes a substantially continuous and outwardly directed peripheralrib 7, which defines or encompasses annular dish-shaped section 8concentrically disposed with respect to the rib 7.

The top 4 of the container includes a lid 9 and a rotatable cap 10. Thelid 9 comprises a flat base portion 9' and an upstanding wall section11, the top edge of which terminates in an inwardly directed curledportion or lip 12. Wall section 11 and lip 12 of lid 9 interlockinglyengage the wall 2 and flange 6 respectively of the cylinder 1 of thecontainer.

The rotatable cap 10 of top 4 is provided with a base portion 10 and araised finger engaging element or rib 13. The top of rib 13 alsoprotrudes above the flange 6 on the wall 2. This raised rib element mayalso be knurled, if desired. The outwardly curved portion of the outerwall 14 of the rib 13 is adapted to contact the curled portion onsection 12 of the upstanding wall section 11 of the lid 9 in such afashion that the curled lip 12 will firmly hold the cap in place and yetallow the cap 10 to be freely rotatable with respect thereto. It is alsoto be noted that the cap 10 and lid 9 are advantageously provided withone or more perforations or apertures 15 and 16 respectively, wherebyupon the rotation of the cap with respect to the lid these apertureswill be placed in registry one with another so that the contents of thecontainer may be dispensed. In a further advantageous embodiment of theinvention and in order to maintain a centering of the cap 10 withrespect to the lid 9, it is also contemplated that the cap 10 and lid 9may be provided with cooperating centrally disposed button-like elementssuch as button-like element 17 in the case of the cap 10 and acorresponding buttonlike element 18 in the case of the lid 9.

With further reference to the drawings and in particular to FIGURE 2 itwill be noted, when a container of the type described is nested uponanother container of similar characteristics, that the rib element 13 ofthe cap, which protrudes slightly above the top flanged edge 6 of thewall 2, will be interlockingly and nestingly received within the centralrecessed portion 8 on the bottom of the topmost container. At the sametime, the rib 7 on the bottom 3 of the topmost container will rest uponthe top flanged edge 6 of the wall 2 of the lowermost container. Due tothe interengagement of the rib 13 on the top 4 of one container with therib 7 on the bottom of the other container, a lateral displacement ofone container with respect to the other is effectively prevented. Theconstruction of the top of the container is also such that similarcontainers can be interchangeably nested with each other regardless ofthe positions of the several rotatable caps thereon.

In certain applications the body or Wall portion 2 of the nestabledispensing container may be formed with an elliptical or other crosssectional configuration in which event the nesting or stacking featuresof the con tainer would remain substantially unchanged.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in theinstant device without departing from the spirit and scope thereof asdefined by the appended claims wherein:

What is claimed is:

1. As an article of manufacture, a nestable dispensing container of thetype described comprising the combination of an upstanding wall, bottomand top, the container bottom being integrally formed with said wall andincluding a centrally disposed recess encompassed by a ribbed portion,the container wall having an inwardly directed ledge located adjacentthe top marginal edge of said wall With said top edge of said wallterminating in an inwardly directed flange, said container topcomprising a lid supportingly mounted on said ledge and a cap rotatablymounted on said lid, said cap also being provided with an outwardlycurved portion, said lid including an upstanding wall section whichterminates in an inwardly curved outer lip, said lid Wall section andlip interlockingly engaging the wall and flange of the containerrespectively, the inwardly curved outer lip on said lid also engagingthe outwardly curved portion of the cap and holding the cap in firm butrotatable engagement there- With and a finger engaging raised element onsaid cap, which protrudes above the top edge of said wall and the flangethereon, whereby, when one container is nested upon another containerhaving similar characteristics the finger engaging raised element on thecap of the lower most container Will be interlockingly and nestinglyreceived within the recess in the bottom of the topmost container andthe ribbed portion on the bottom of the topmost container will rest onthe inwardly directed flange on the top edge of the lowermost container.

2. An article of manufacture a defined in claim 1 wherein the cap andlid are each provided with at least one perforation.

3. An article of manufacture as claimed in claim 1 wherein the cap andlid are both provided with cooperating cap centering means.

4. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 1 wherein the fingerengaging element on the cap is in the form of a continuous annular rib.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS635,769 Gordon Oct. 31, 1899 834,314 Miller Oct. 30, 1906 2,033,574Henderson Mar. 10, 1936 2,077,027 Torras Apr. 13, 1937 2,136,795 HoffmanNov. 15, 1938 2,343,716 Toscano et a1. Mar. 7, 1944 2,432,790 OLarte etal Dec. 16, 1947 2,805,005 Kappler Sept. 3, 1957 2,833,452 Drummond eta1. May 6, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 686,838 Great Britain Feb. 4, 1953806,143 France Sept. 14, 1936

